Rope
by crowfliesmyass
Summary: She left the group to find her sister; she had her bow, her Harley and her skills. No one would've ever suspected that they'd see her again, especially Daryl. When she returns 3 months later with a secret that could get everyone killed, indecision has her climbing up the walls. Remake of 'When Dixon Falls In love'. Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So this is a remake of 'When Dixon Falls In love', expect it has a few twists and changes. Nothing too hectic, but yeah. I named it 'Rope' because I really like the song 'Rope' by the Foo Fighters. If you haven't heard it, I really recommend listening to it. My OC is still Claire in this remake. **

**This is just a tester to see how many people are actually going to read it. Of coarse, if gets a lot of hits (cough cough), I'll continue. **

**So all in all, tell me what you think and if you prefer 'When Dixon Falls In Love' please do tell me. **

**Thanks!**

** So ladies and Gentleman...I give you: **

**Rope**

* * *

"She's… gone?" he asked, still clutching his crossbow. Shane looked at Lori, then Merle and finally, back at Daryl and nodded. Daryl's jaw dropped slightly. "The hell?! How could you let her go?!" he yelled, swinging his crossbow over his shoulder now.

"She wanted to find her sister. She'll be back," Shane assured him calmly.

Daryl glowered at the cop. "You say it like you don't believe it!" he yelled furiously and jabbed his finger at Shane. Lori and Andrea quickly pulled Shane back and pushed Daryl away.

"Hey! It wasn't his fault!" Lori defended. Daryl stepped back, slowly shaking his head in shock.

"Don't worry 'bout it baby brother! Sure there'll be plenty of girls to fuck!" Merle chimed in. Daryl spun around and lunged himself at his brother, instantly getting the lower hand. Merle flipped him over and gave his younger brother one blow.

That was enough for Shane, who broke pulled Merle off of Daryl. "Enough!" he demanded as Daryl got up. He wiped his now bloody nose and looked at everyone. Shane sighed. "She said that she'd be back real soon. She has her bow and handgun."

Daryl snorted. "Yeah, we've all heard that one before. Ain't no way she'll survive out there! You know it!" he shouted at Shane. Shane sighed and backed away slowly. Daryl bit his lip hesitantly. "She say where she went?" he asked a bit more calmly.

Shane shook his head. "No…she didn't. But she'll be back. You know Claire…we all do. She is tough as shit."

Daryl licked his lips and looked around at everybody again. He noticed how scared Sophia and Carl looked and how they were both hiding behind their mothers. His eyes met Lori's and her facial expression said it all; she was scared, too. He wiped his nose one last time before looking at Shane again and nodding once, before he stomped off to his tent.

The only girl Daryl Dixon had ever loved was dead.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own jackshit...except Claire.

* * *

Two months later

"Take anything we could use; clothes, food…you know the drill," Rick instructed the group. They nodded and started searching the cars. Rick bent down next to Carl and Sophia. "Whatever happens, you make sure that you can see either me, Shane, T, Glenn or Daryl at all times, okay?" They both nodded and Sophia held her doll up as the two followed Glenn. Rick stood up and looked at Shane, who was holding his black shotgun on his shoulder.

"We can't do this forever. We gotta get movin' if we wanna make the CDC," Shane warned Rick.

Rick nodded. "I know, Shane. I'm doing my best," he assured his best friend.

Shane sighed and looked up at Dale, who was standing on top of the RV on watch. "Dale, we clear?!" he yelled.

Dale looked through his binoculars and scanned the area for anything suspicious. "We're clear!" Shane nodded and he and Rick started looking around. Dale sat down on his camper chair, next to Andrea. "How're you holding up?" he asked. Andrea didn't reply. She just kept her eyes on the road. "If you wanna talk about it, you know I'm always here, right? If anything's on your mind…" he trailed off, not sure what so say anymore. He sighed. "Beautiful day, huh?" he commented. "You know, when I-"

"Walkers!" was all Andrea said as she swiftly stood up and pointed ahead.

Dale stopped and looked through his binoculars again. There was a small herd about to pass. "Rick! Shane!" he hissed hastily. The both looked up at him. "Walkers!" Rick and Shane's faces dropped. Rick looked through the scope of his Rifle to see for himself. Sure enough, there was a group of geeks coming towards them. Rick and Shane rushed over to each and every person to instruct them to hide, but it was too late; the geeks were too close. Daryl immediately started shooting them with his crossbow while Rick, Shane, T, Glenn and Dale began blasting them with whatever weapon they were equipped with. Carol and Jacquie immediately grabbed Sophia and took her to the RV. Lori was about to follow when she noticed that Carl was missing. She instantly started panicking.

"CARL!" she called out, waiting for his reply. Her eyes scrutinized the abandoned road, hoping to see her son.

Rick looked at Lori and noticed how she was panicking. "Lori! Get Carl!" he commanded, not taking his eyes off of the geeks. Lori gripped her hair with her hands as she cried distressfully, not knowing what to do next.

She ran between the cars, waiting to see Carl's head pop up anywhere, but it was no use. "CARL?!" she cried out again. Still, there was no reply. She climbed up onto a nearby car and looked around. "CARL!" she yelled out franticly. Then she saw him; he had been hiding underneath a car. She let out a small sigh of relief as she hopped down, making her way towards her son.

"Lori! Get back!" Shane demanded, not knowing about Carl. She ignored him and started sprinting. As she ran, she tripped over a dead body and hit the ground. She looked underneath the cars to see if Carl was still there. He was looking directly at her, crying at the sight of his mother falling. He needed to do something. He slowly looked around; to make sure the coast was clear and climbed out from underneath the car. He ran towards Lori, shocked to see an oncoming walker heading directly towards her.

"Mom!" Carl yelled out and ran to her. She told him to back away as she crawled underneath a nearby car, like he had done. He backed away, not sure what to do next. He stepped back, completely oblivious to the geek that was standing behind him and bumped into it. His scream filled everybody's ears and both Rick and Shane instantly spotted Carl, about to be attacked. Without hesitating, Rick sprinted towards his son, shooting any walker that got in his way. Rick raised his Python, ready to shoot the walker that was about to attack Carl, when its dead body hit the ground. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted the silver arrow. It wasn't Daryl's, so whose was it? A pair of black, worn out combat boots stepped beside the head and a pair of hands reached down to retrieve the arrow. Rick looked up and saw the woman like she was brighter than the sun; she had blue eyes and black hair that pulled back into a messy ponytail. She was wearing black combat boots and black skinny jeans, paired with a plain grey tank top. She had two earrings in each ear and was clutching a Fox Triple Clown C bow.

"Hey, Sherriff? You gonna help?" she asked him sarcastically, putting an arrow in her bow. He nodded, too busy worrying about Lori and Carl than the woman and helped her shoot the last of the geeks. She crouched down and reached underneath the car for Lori once all of the walkers were down. "You okay?" she asked as she helped Lori up. The woman swung her bow over her shoulder.

Lori's face lit up when she saw the woman. She was lost for words. "Oh God...We thought you were-"

"Dead?" Claire finished the sentence. Rick puckered his brow confusedly as he watched this mysterious woman talk to his wife. The woman tightened the bandage that was wrapped around her arm. "I told Shane I would return." By then, everyone had gathered around Lori to see what all the fuss was about. Glenn was the first to greet her. She hugged him, then T, Andrea, Jacquie, Lori then Carol. She and Shane exchanged brief smiles and when her icy blue eyes met Daryl's scowl, she nodded once. He didn't know what to do. _He thought she was dead._

"Claire?" Sophia cried out, too shocked to say anything else. Claire's eyes shot down. She smiled when she saw the blonde little girl staring at her in complete shock.

"It's me, Sophia," she assured her. Sophia instantly threw herself at Claire and hugged her. Claire was a bit taken aback at the girl's sudden affection and instead of hugging her back, just patted her back lightly.

"D-Daryl said you were dead," Sophia whispered. Claire's eyes narrowed as she slowly pulled away from the girl. _Why would Daryl tell them that? _She looked at Daryl and raised an eyebrow slightly then looked around at everyone and stopped when she got to Rick.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Claire Valentine," she introduced herself. Rick looked down at her hand. She was wearing black fingerless black leather gloves.

He shook it. "Rick Grimes. Husband of Lori's; father of Carl's."

"Nice to meet you," she said, nodding once. "Where are the others?"

There was a moment of silence before Glenn finally spoke up. "Morale's left to find his family…Our camp got overrun. Ed, Amy, Jim…" his sentence drifted off.

Claire's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry," she breathed, making sure to make eye contact with Carol and Andrea. Carol nodded once, recognizing Claire's sympathy and lightly squeezed Sophia's shoulder. Andrea on the other hand didn't look up; she just remained looking at her shoes. Claire sighed and looked up at Shane. "Where're you headed?" she asked, playing with her bow. Shane glanced at Rick and waited for an answer.

Rick stepped forward. "The CDC. It's our only hope," he told her.

She nodded. "I heard it was still up and running even after the world went to shit." She thought back to when she went to find her sister; she met another group and they always spoke about the CDC. That was before they all turned. Claire was the last man standing.

There was another moment of silence before Carl spoke up. "Are you comin'?" he blurted. Claire looked down at him, unsure of what to say.

"Yeah? Are you? We've missed you," Dale chimed in.

Claire opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again before sighing. "Sure. If that's alright, I guess," she said, looking at everyone. Everyone nodded, except Daryl. He didn't even look at her. There was another moment of silence before Lori stepped forward.

"Let's getcha cleaned up before we head out. C'mon," she said and with Carol's help, led Claire to the RV. Claire was wearing many bandages; one wrapped around her hand, one around her leg, her waist and around her shoulder. Lori carefully took off the badges and Carol gently dabbed her wounds with a wet sponge. Claire looked around the RV, remembering how it looked before. It was emptier than she remembered. She looked up when she heard someone entering the RV. It was Sophia and Carl. She smiled at them as they sat down opposite her.

"So you found your dad, huh?" Claire asked Carl. A big smile spread across his face as he nodded. "Good for you," she went on. She looked at Sophia and noticed how uneasy she was. She looked sad. Claire wanted to tell her that she shouldn't be sad because Ed died. After all, he was a ruthless, motherless bastard to her anyway. Well at least that's what she remembered. She sighed and reached out for Sophia. "That's a pretty cute doll you have there. Looks like you. Got your pretty eyes," she tried to lighten the mood. Sophia smiled at Claire and Lori and Carol exchanged small smiles. That's was one of the reasons they liked Claire; she always knew what to say and when to say it, especially when it came to the kids. Carl and Sophia loved being around Claire; she was like the cool aunt that let them get away with anything. She always defended them when they got into trouble and always made sure that they ate before she even lifted a bowl. They were her first priority before she left to find her sister, Callie.

"There…all done," Carol said as she finished up the cleaning. Before Claire stood up, Lori handed her a clean tank top. Claire nodded and changed into it before heading outside again.

"Right. Let's get goin' before it gets dark. Claire you'll be ridin' with-" Rick said.

Claire quickly interrupted him. "I have my Harley. Stocked up on gas before I came," she assured him. He looked at Shane then back at her and nodded. She turned around and sighed, clutching her swollen belly.


	3. Chapter 3

They drove for about a half hour before arriving at the CDC. Everyone got out of their vehicles and followed Rick. The stench was revolting and every once in a while, Shane and Rick would tell everyone to keep quite. There were dead bodies everywhere, but nothing that nobody had ever seen. The military had been there; there were abandoned tanks, dead soldiers, weapons lying around and barbed wire everywhere. There were also a shit load of flies. Claire covered her mouth with her do-rag and walked behind Lori and Carl with her bow over her shoulder and shotgun in her hands. Once they reached the gates of the CDC, Rick and Shane tried to open it up.

"There's nobody here," T spoke up.

Claire shook her head. "Then tell me why the shutters are down," she told him and inspected the gate.

"Walkers!" Daryl announced and shot it down. Then he walked towards Rick belligerently. "YOU LED US INTO A GRAVEYARD!" he accused at attempted to punch him.

Shane instantly pulled him back. "He made a call!" he yelled at Daryl.

"IT WAS THE WRONG DAMN CALL!" Daryl shouted.

Shane swiftly stepped forward and held him by his collar. "SHUT UP! You hear me? Shut up!" Shane barked. Daryl narrowed his blue eyes and kept quiet while Shane turned to Rick. "This is a dead end, Rick."

"Where are we gonna go?!" Carol sobbed. Claire took a deep breath.

Lori stepped forward. "She's right- we can't be this close to the city after dark!" she agreed with Carol. Everyone started panicking.

"Fort Benning, Rick; it's still an option," Shane said calmly.

Andrea intervened. "On what? No food, no fuel; it's 100 miles!"

"125- I checked the map," Glenn corrected.

Lori shook her head. "Forget Fort Benning; we need answers now!" The sobs of both Carl and Sophia could be heard at this point.

"We'll think of something!" Glenn said. And with that, everybody started making their way back to the vehicles except for Rick and Claire.

"We can't leave; I know they're in there!" Claire protested. Rick looked at her and nodded in agreement. The two looked up at the camera at the exact same time. It moved.

"The camera; it moved!" Rick blurted. Everybody else stopped and looked up at it.

"You imagined it!" Dale argued.

Claire spun around. "No…he didn't. I saw it too."

Both Rick and Claire stepped closer to the gate and looked up at the camera.

"Rick, it's dead! It's an automated device. It's gears, they were just winding down!" Shane yelled. Still, Rick and Claire didn't move. Shane started shouting some more, but both Rick and Claire ignored him and started banging on the gate.

"Rick, there's nobody here!" Lori yelled stressfully. Rick ignored everyone.

"I know you're in there! I know you can hear me! Please, we're desperate! Please help us! We've got children, woman, no food and hardly any gas!" Rick yelled into the camera. Lori ran in front of him and tried to push him back. That's when Claire started shouting.

"Please! We have nowhere else to go! If you don't let us in, you're killing us! PLEASE! WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU'RE KILLING US!" she yelled and kicked the door. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her back. "NO! LET US IN FOR GOD SAKE!" she screamed.

"Claire, we gotta go," she heard the voice say. She looked back and saw that Daryl was holding her back. She narrowed her eyes. "No use; we gotta go."

"Get off me!" she hissed. He refused and pulled her back even more while Shane pulled Rick back. As Claire pushed Daryl away from her, the sound of the gate opening filled everyone's ears and an illuminating light shone on them. Daryl let go of Claire and everyone hesitated before heading inside.

"Claire, Daryl-take the back," Rick instructed. The obeyed and made sure that everyone was inside. Everyone looked around; it was a very modern building with a high ceiling. Then they all heard the sound of a gun being cocked. Claire, Daryl, Glenn, Rick and Shane instantly pointed their weapons at the person. It was a man holding a machine gun.

"Anybody infected?" the man asked.

Claire looked around. "We look infected?" she asked sarcastically.

"One of our group was," Rick replied realistically, "he didn't make it." Claire looked at him confusedly, not knowing who it was.

The man went downstairs to where they were standing and slowly walked towards them. "Why are you here? What do you want?" Claire was about to answer, but decided to let Rick do all the talking.

Rick took a deep breath and lowered his weapon. "A chance."

The man stopped and lowered his gun, too. He looked at everyone then back at Rick. "That's asking an awful lot these days," he said. Rick nodded in agreement. The man looked around once more before finally answering. "You all submit to a blood test; that's the price of admission."

Rick looked at Shane and they exchanged nods. "We can do that."

The man nodded and walked towards the door. "Alright. You got stuff to bring in, do it now. Once the door closes, it stays closed." And with that, everybody went back to the vehicles to get their things.

"So that's it? I'm just gonna leave my bike?" Claire asked Shane as they went back inside. He looked at her and shrugged. She let out a sigh and looked back at her 2010 Harley-Davidson CVO Fat Bob. "I'll miss you," she said to herself as the doors closed.

"Rick Grimes," Rick introduced himself as they walked. He stuck out his hand, waiting for the man to react.

"Dr Edwin Jenner," the man replied and shook Ricks hand. The elevator ride was long and awkward, because everyone got crammed inside.

"Doctors always go 'round packin' heat like that?" Daryl broke the silence. Everybody looked at him.

Jenner turned around and looked at him too. "There were plenty left lying around; I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough…" he looked down at Carl. "Except you…I'll have to keep my eye on you." Carl smiled and looked at his mom. She shrugged. Jenner led the group to the main lab. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room!" he instructed somebody. Suddenly the lights turned on, exposing the circle of computers in the middle of the room. Jenner answered a few questions and made it clear that he was the only living doctor left. After that, they went into another room, that appeared to be some kind of a lecture hall, to take their blood tests. First up was Shane and Rick, followed by T and Glenn, then Dale, Carol, Lori, Sophia and Carl. After that it was Jacquie, Andrea and Daryl and lastly it was Claire. Claire went last because she knew that it would take long for him to actually get the needle in her skin. _She had always hated injections or anything that had to do with needles going into her body and now it was even worse with her given situation. _She climbed onto the chair uneasily and looked at Jenner.

"How much blood will this take?" she asked, trying to stall. He shook his head. She narrowed his eyes. "Stop bullshitting. _Is it going to hurt?_" she repeated herself.

Jenner sighed and looked up at the rest of the group. "She always like this?" he asked them. Shane shook his head. Jenner looked back down at Claire. "Are you scared?" he asked her calmly.

She shook her head and narrowed her blue eyes. "Hell no. I'm just curious to know…" she lied.

Daryl sighed irritably. "Just stick the damn thing in! Ain't no reason to act like a wuss!" he complained.

Claire shot him a look. "Shut the hell up!" she snapped. She noticed how rude he was being to her ever since she came back. Before she left, he used to smile at her and even joke around. Now he was giving her the cold shoulder. She wasn't about to back down either; if he wanted a bitch fight, a bitch fight is what he was going to get.

"All I'm sayin' is that you don't gotta be such a goddamn baby. If Carl and Sophia can do it, why can't you?" he teased.

Claire narrowed her eyes. "You're a bitch," she said to him. Everyone just sat back and enjoyed the show. "You're a pain in the ass. That's what you-"

"All done," Doctor Jenner said.

Claire spun around and raised an eyebrow. "What? It's finished? But I didn't even feel anything," she said, confused.

Jenner looked at Daryl. "Thanks for distracting her." Daryl nodded once. Claire was confused, but decided to leave it alone. As she got up, she fell slightly. Lori immediately got up to help her. "You okay?" the doctor asked. Lori looked at him and smiled.

"She probably hasn't eaten in days; none of us have," she told him the truth. Jenner frowned as he hesitated. Then he led them down to the kitchen and prepared dinner.

Once the dinner was done, Claire started serving everyone, but herself, wine. "You now, in Italy and France, children have a bit of wine with their dinner," she said mischievously.

Rick laughed while Lori shook her head. "Well when Carl's in Italy or France, he can have some then," she refused.

Rick looked at her. "What's a li'l gonna hurt?" he urged. Lori sighed and shrugged, giving in. Claire poured Carl a bit of wine and everyone watched him scoff it down.

"EWWWW! GROSS! THAT TASTES NASTY!" he complained, shaking his head and pulling a disgusted face. Everyone laughed at the child. He was so innocent. Lori took his glass of wine and poured it into hers.

"Better stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane teased.

That's when Daryl, who was semi-drunk, looked at Claire, who hadn't had anything to drink yet. He had a mischievous grin, just like the old times.

"Surprised you ain't wasted yet," he remarked. Her face dropped as looked around at everyone nervously.

"Me?" she asked and let out a short laugh, "I'm not the drinking type."

Daryl narrowed his slate blue eyes and smirked. "Oh really now?" he teased her.

She nodded. "Yeah. _Really. _Besides, I wanted to see Glenn drink," she changed the subject and looked at Glenn, like everybody else did. Claire bit her lip. "Keep drinking; I wanna see how red your face can get!" she urged on. Glenn accepted and started scoffing the red liquid down his throat. Everyone laughed as they watched.

After Rick made a toast to Jenner, Jenner directed them to their rooms. He mentioned something about hot water and video games and left them to settle in. Claire opened one of the doors, with a bottle of ice cold water in her hand. She sipped as she threw her bags down. The first thing she did was take a shower. It felt good to feel the hot water hit her skin again. She combed her fingers threw her ebony hair and washed herself. When she got out she put on her oversized Led Zeppelin t-shirt that once belonged to her dad. She went out into the hallway to see who was around. Glenn had already passed out, T was sleeping, Andrea and Dale were talking, the kids, Jacquie and Carol were asleep too and she had no idea where Rick, Shane and Lori were. She trotted down the hall to the recreational room, but hid behind the wall when she heard people taking. _It was Lori and Shane. _Claire turned around to leave but stopped when she heard what they were talking about.

"…There's no way he could survive!" Shane was telling Lori. _Who were they talking about? _

"He did-" Lori argued. Then someone banged something. Claire assumed it was Shane.

"Then I had ya'll to think 'bout didn't I? I had you and Carl and I had to get you two to Atlanta!" Shane interrupted her. Then Claire heard shuffling and another bang. Lori tried to say something, but there was another bang. "Just stop. If you thought for one second he was alive, would you have come? I saved your lives, you and your little boy's. That's what I did, okay?" Then he started whispering. "If I could've traded places with him, I would have. I would trade places right now because-"

"Shane, no-" Lori tried to say.

Shane didn't want to hear it. "No, no, no, no. I love you."

"No, you're drunk," Lori tried saying over and over.

"And you love me, too. There's no way you could be the way you were." That's when Claire decided to peek. She saw Shane forcing himself on top of her. Lori was calling his name, but he wouldn't stop. "You love me, too." Then, to Claire's disgust, he started touching Lori. She tried to push him away, but it was useless. Claire knew she had to do something quickly. Since she was unequipped, she looked around for a weapon. She saw a pool cube hanging on the wall and grabbed it. As she made her way towards them, she watched how Lori scratched his neck and shoved him back. Before he stepped forward, Claire made her presence known by clearing her throat. Lori and Shane's heads shot up and they both looked at her.

"Get out," Claire growled. Shane backed away, shocked to see her. "Get the fuck out!" she repeated herself. Shane looked at Lori then back at Claire before leaving the room. Lori broke down and Claire dropped the cube to comfort Lori. "Are you okay?" she asked. Lori nodded and whipped her face.

"P-please. You can't tell Rick. Or anyone. Please. I'm beggin' you," Lori hysterically pleaded. Claire nodded. Lori started crying again.

Claire put an arm around Lori's shoulder. "Let's get you back to your room," she said. Lori whipped her face a few times before they headed back to Lori's room. Once Claire was sure that Lori was okay, she decided to head back to her room. Claire lay on the couch and thought about what she had just witnessed. All this time, the man that was supposed to be protecting the group was an animal. Not for much longer though; Claire would make sure that he got exposed.


	4. Chapter 4

**_3 Months earlier _**

_Daryl's eyes stalked the animal's every move. He tightened his grip of his crossbow and inched forward carefully. A bead of sweat fell from his temple. The arrow-struck deer craned its neck down, reaching for the lush grass that it stood on. Its ears twitched every now and then. Daryl inhaled a load of air and gulped. _

_Ptttphh_

_Its body hit the ground. Daryl's sapphire eyes widened. He didn't even shoot. He heard someone let out a victorious sigh from behind. _

_"Slow poke." _

_He swiped his tongue across his front teeth as he lowered his crossbow in defeat. He turned around; not at all surprised to see the pale, black-haired figure standing behind him, bow still in her hands. She had a smirk on her face, as if she was teasing him. _

_"Guess dinner's ready," she said as she swung her bow over her shoulder. Her hips and French plait swayed in sync from left to right as she brushed past him. Her pink lips still curled into a smile. _

_Daryl sighed irritably. "Ain't you a peach?" he asked sarcastically as he watched her retrieve her arrows. _

_She turned around and looked at him, eyes narrowed down to two slits. "I believe jealousy makes you nasty, Dixon. Perhaps it runs in the family," she retorted._

_ Daryl shook his head in disbelief and stepped closer to the dead deer. "That's my deer," he told her, pointing at the carcass with his crossbow. She shrugged. "Been trackin' it for miles. The hell did you manage to get 'em?" _

_She shrugged once more. "Guess you better start checking your surroundings out before you go in for the kill. Lesson learnt, right?" she taunted him._

_ Daryl frowned. "Ain't gotta learn nothin'. This is my damn job, remember? You got underwear to scrub." Claire's jaw dropped a bit. _

_She nodded and pursed her lips. "Oh, I'm sorry that I'd rather help protect and feed the camp than sit on my ass the whole fucking day." _

_"Whatever. Just think that you should stick to whatcha know, 'stead of trynna be somethin' you ain't." _

_Claire let out a small humorless laugh and put her hands on her hips. Daryl couldn't help but notice how her tank top was starting to ride up just a little bit, exposing her toned stomach. "You are such a dick." Daryl snorted a bit. Claire smiled slightly. She never took anything that he said to her personally. She knew that whenever he tried to insult her, he never meant it. It was always just joking around with the two of them. She was one of the few people he actually got along with sometimes. Hell; she was the only person, besides the occasional Merle, that he got along with. They stood there for a while, looking at each other, before Claire snapped back to reality and quickly broke eye contact. She turned around and grabbed the antlers of the deer and looked at Daryl again. "You gonna help?" she asked. He rolled his eyes and reluctantly grabbed both antlers before pulling the whole thing back to camp. _

…

Claire woke up lying on her couch in her room. She groaned and rubbed her eyes before slowly sitting up. She stood up and walked over to her bags. She scratched around inside her duffel bag and took out her pair of worn out black skinny jeans and a plain, skin tight dark red t-shirt. She stuffed her feet into her Docs and went to join everyone for breakfast. When she got to the dining room, the first person that she saw was Glenn. He looked like shit. Claire couldn't help but laugh at him as she padded towards the table and sat down next to him.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again," he moaned. Claire patted his back lightly as T-Dog put some eggs on her plate. She smiled and nodded once, thanking him. When Shane walked in and sat opposite her, she looked at him briefly and then kept her eyes on her food. They barely got to eat before Dale and Andrea started asking Jenner a ton of questions and he took them up to the main room, where Daryl was hanging around. He nodded once when he saw her. She returned the favor and smiled slightly, happy that he was being somewhat nice to her again. Jenner showed them a playback of a vigil. He showed and explained to them how the 'virus' worked and what it did to the brain. He also made it clear that it was happening all over the world and just in America. While everyone processed the thought of being the only ones left in the world, Dale spoke up.

"That clock," he said. Everybody looked at it, "It's counting down. What happens when it reaches zero?"

Jenner took a deep breath before replying. "The basement generators run out of fuel."

Everyone looked at each other. Claire narrowed her eyes. "What happens then?" she asked, eager to know. Everyone looked at Jenner and waited for a response. Instead, he simply walked out of the room and left everyone there. "Vi," Claire called out. "What happens when the basement generators run out of fuel?"

**"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." **

Claire's eyes widened as she immediately looked at Rick. He had the same expression. Without hesitation, Claire, Rick, Glenn, Shane and T ran down to the basement to check it out. While they were investigating, the lights suddenly went off.

**"Emergency lights activated." **

At first, Glenn thought Rick and Shane had randomly switched them off, but they denied it. The group made their way back upstairs to the others. When they met up with them, Daryl was yelling at Jenner about something.

Rick immediately went to them and intervened. "Jenner, what's happenin'?" he panicked and walked next to the doctor, who seemed to be very calm and unbothered by what was happening.

"The system is dropping all the non-essential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. We've just reached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule," he explained and handed Daryl a bottle of liquor. "It was the French. They were the last to hold out as far as I know. While our people committing suicide, they stayed in the labs to the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

Everyone started getting worried. "What happened?" Jacquie asked.

"Same thing that's happening here; no power grid. Ran out of juice." He paused. "The world runs on fossil fuel, I mean, how stupid is that?" he said and walked to his computer. Shane furiously followed him and shouted at him. Rick got a handful of his shirt and yanked him back.

"I don't even care!" he told Shane, then turned around to Lori. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody. We're getting' outta here, NOW!" Rick demanded. Everyone turned around, but then an alarm went off.

"What the fuck's that?!" Claire yelled at Jenner.

**"30 minutes to decontamination." **

Shane was about to do something to Jenner, but stopped himself and turned to everyone instead. "Everybody, you heard Rick; getcha things! Let's go!" he shouted. As everyone started running, the doors that lead to the exits suddenly sealed and everybody started panicking.

"YOU SONOFABITCH!" Daryl yelled and dropped the bottle of alcohol he was holding. He angrily ran to Jenner and tried to beat him, but Shane pulled him back.

Rick looked at Jenner and tried to talk him out of it. "Jenner, open that door now," he said calmly.

Jenner shook his head. "There's no point. Do you know what this place is?!" he shouted impatiently and stood up. "WE PROTECTED THE PUBLIC FROM SOME VERY NASTY STUFF! WEAPONISED SMALLPOX! EBOLA TO WIPE OUT HALF THE COUNTRY! STUFF YOU DON'T WANT GETTING OUT! EVER!" Everybody was taken aback. They were all speechless as they watched him calm himself down and sit down again. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure and a terrorist attack for example, HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms getting out."

Claire's jaw dropped slightly. She gulped. "HITs?" she asked in disbelief. She knew what they were. _High-Impulse Thermobaric fuel-air explosives. _Jenner instructed Vi to define HITs for those who didn't know. As Vi explained further, everyone looked around at each other skeptically and panicked even more. Carol, Andrea, Lori and Jacquie started sobbing. A few tears escaped Claire's eyes and Sophia and Carl both clutched onto their mothers. Claire caught Daryl looking back at her and could see how scared he was, too. She covered her mouth with one hand and held her belly with the other as tears silently ran down her face. This is not how she intended to die. Not like that.

Daryl broke the gaze and decided to put matters into his own hands. He made his way to the door, Shane, T, Glenn and Rick all behind him, and started banging on the door. He turned around and glared at Jenner. "OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" he demanded. Jenner ignored him. Shane discovered two emergency axes and took them, handing one to Daryl. Meanwhile, Claire, Carol and Sophia, Lori, Carl and Andrea sat on the floor around Jenner and just waited. Claire pulled her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes for a while, trying to block out all the noise.

"I can't make a dent!" she heard Shane complain and opened her eyes. Shane and Daryl had stopped banging on the door.

Jenner shrugged. "The doors were designed to withstand a rocket launcher," he told Shane.

That's when Daryl came running at him. "WELL YOUR HEAD AIN'T!" he yelled and held up the axe, ready to whack Jenner over the head. Claire immediately jumped up and pushed him back with all her strength. Shane and Rick helped.

"Whoa! Daryl! Back up!" she shouted. Daryl finally gave in and stopped. Claire let go of his shirt. After arguing over and over, Rick managed to convince Jenner to open up. The doors opened up and everyone ran to the exit, except for Jacque and Andrea. Claire ignored them and sprinted with everyone to get their bags. When they got their bags and got to the exit, the doors were locked. Daryl and Shane started hitting the windows with the axes, but it was no use. They started shooting, but still; nothing. Then Carol handed Rick a grenade and everybody got down while he placed it near the window.

"GET DOWN!" Shane yelled. Everyone obeyed. Claire couldn't help but notice how instead of getting down, Daryl stood in front of her and shielded her with his body. She looked up at him and shook her head in confusion. He ignored her expression and just kept on looking at her until it was safe to go. It blew up and everybody watched as the glass fell out of its frame. The group hopped out and sprinted to the cars, shooting any walkers that were in their way. Daryl and Claire climbed onto their motorcycles and just as everyone was about to ride off, they spotted Andrea and Dale, who has stayed behind to try and convince Andrea and Jacquie to come with them, hop out and run towards the cars.

"CLAIRE! DARYL! GET IN QUICK!" Glenn yelled from inside the RV. They instantly obeyed ran into the RV for cover.

"DALE, GET DOWN!" Lori yelled. They all watched as Andrea and Dale ducked bind a wall of sandbags that the military had left behind.

"Everybody, get down!" Rick demanded and ducked behind the dashboard with Lori and Carl. Then it happened. The CDC building hit the floor within seconds. The explosion was huge. Sophia and Carl both covered their ears. Claire and Daryl got out and went back to their motorcycles. Dale and Andrea got into the RV and they drove off, looking for a new place to go.


	5. Chapter 5

Alright, guys so here are the sitch:

I've changed a few things in the previous chapters so that things regarding the big 'secret' will make more sense in the future, so if you could just go back and reread the past few chapters, that would be great.

Tell me if you've figured out the secret yet.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Please R & R

* * *

Once they were completely out of Atlanta, they drove for about 45 minutes before stopping on the freeway because the RV's radiator hose broke. To kill time, the group decided to loot the area while Dale, T and Glenn tried to fix the RV. At first, Lori was hesitant, but went along with it anyway. Claire grabbed her backpack and made her way to the nearest car.

"Carl. Always within my sight," Lori told her son. He nodded and scampered off with Sophia right behind him. Claire moved over to the nearest car and notice a bloody baby carrier inside. She started at it for a while before going through the bags that were in the trunk. After raiding about five cars, Rick came up behind Claire and called her name.

"Claire!" he hissed. She spun around and smiled. Her smile soon faded when Rick signaled her to get underneath the car. She was hesitant, but slowly climbed underneath the Jeep and watched as Rick instructed the others, too. She kept her eyes on Carl and Sophia the whole time and tried to calm them down. She tilted her head to see who else she could see and saw why Rick instructed everyone to get underneath the car; there were about a hundred geeks on their way. Claire bit her lip anxiously as her attention went back to Carl and Sophia, who had both seen the walkers, too. Her eyes darted to where Lori and Carol were and noted that Carol was quietly sobbing while Lori tried her best to calm her down.

About ten minutes later, Sophia stuck her head out to see if the coast was clear. She was completely unaware of the two oncoming walkers and they spotted her as she tried to get back underneath the car. Her cries filled the atmosphere and everyone remained completely still as they watched the blonde little girl run off into the forest, trying to get away from the geeks. The first person to act was Rick, who instantly got up from beneath the car and ran after her, leaving his rifle behind. When everyone was completely convinced that there no more walkers, they all got up and ran to the edge of the highway, watching the forest and waiting for any signs.

"Oh Lori! There're two walkers after my baby!" Carol sobbed as Lori held her tight. Daryl, Glenn, Shane and Claire decided to go after them after equipping themselves with weapons. They got to a stream and saw a blood-covered Rick without Sophia. They all watched him limp towards them and he pointed to a nearby hole.

"There," he said, "I told her to stay right over there."

Daryl moved closer to investigate. "Sure this is the place?" he asked Rick and frowned.

Rick nodded and pointed to the other side of the stream. "I drew two walkers off in that direction, up the creek," then he turned around and pointed in the opposite direction. "I told her to go in that direction; to keep the sun on her left shoulder."

Daryl looked up at Glenn, who was casually standing and looking around, and yelled at him about blocking the pathway. Meanwhile, Claire inspected another pathway while Shane and Rick had a small argument. "Hey. There're clear tracks over here. Check it out, Daryl," she announced. Daryl obeyed and moved over to where she was to double-check her findings. Sure enough, she was right.

"Yeah," Daryl confirmed, "she did what you said; headed up to the highway. Let's spread out!" Shane, Rick and Glenn followed Daryl and Claire's lead until they stopped. "She was doin' fine 'til over here," Daryl observed. Claire nodded in agreement.

"Something happened; she went off that way," Claire added and pointed in another direction.

Shane looked down at Claire, who was crouching. "Maybe she saw somethin' that spooked her? A Walker?"

Daryl shook his head on behalf of Claire. "Nah. Don't see any other prints. Just hers."

"Okay… so what now?" Glenn asked.

Rick sighed and looked at Daryl and Claire. "Maybe you and Shane should head back up to the highway; people are probably starting to panic. Claire, Daryl- we'll go on." Everyone nodded and Shane assured Rick that he's calm the others down. When they left, Daryl, Claire and Rick carefully followed the tracks. They walked for a while before they heard a shuffle. All of them got down immediately and Daryl and Claire had their weapons ready to shoot anything. The trio pursued the sounds, which lead them to a walker. Daryl shot it down and they made their way to the now-dead walker. Claire called out Sophia's name, but received no reply. Daryl and Rick on the other hand, were both squatting around the corpse and examining it. Rick took out a chuck of flesh from the walker's teeth.

"It's flesh," he observed.

Daryl looked at it. "From what?"

Rick took a deep breath and Claire and Daryl could see the disgust on his face. "Only one way to find out." And with that being said, he took out his pocket knife.

"Wait!" Claire called out before he could do anything. "Use my machete; it's sharper." She handed it to Rick, who examined the blade before continuing. Before he could make a dent in the creature's belly, Daryl insisted that he do it instead. Rick handed the knife over and stood back. Daryl positioned himself over the geek and stabbed its belly. The machete sliced through the walker like a knife would go through soft butter.

"Here comes the bad part," Daryl said and put the machete down. He put on a pair of gardening gloves and stuck his hand inside the geek, looking for the stomach. He pulled out a few other organs before the stomach, but when he pulled out something that looked like the small intestine, Claire couldn't contain herself and vomited.

"You okay?" Rick asked. Daryl looked at her too. She nodded and waited for Daryl to continue. When he found the stomach, he pulled it out and put it down. He took his hunting knife from its sheath and slit it open. Rick put a pair of gloves, too and helped Daryl search for any sign of Sophia. Neither of them found anything, so it was decided that they'd pick up the search the next day with everyone else. When they got back to the highway, the sun was already setting. Carol was still standing at the edge of the road, looking into the forest. When she saw them without Sophia, she started crying.

"You – You didn't find her?" she sobbed. The trio looked at each other.

"Trail went cold. We're gonna pick it up tomorrow," Claire assured her.

Carol shook her head. Everybody else gathered around to listen. "You can't leave her all alone! To spend the night alone in the woods!" Carol cried some more.

"Huntin' in the dark's no good; we'll just be trippin' over ourselves," Daryl firmly told her. Claire nodded in agreement.

"But she's twelve! She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol asked him. He looked at Rick, then back at Carol.

Rick took a deep breath. "I know this is hard, but I'm askin' you not to panic. We know she was out there. We tracked her for a while," Rick tried to calm her down. "We need to make this an organized effort; Daryl and Claire know these woods better than anybody and I've asked them to oversee this."

Carol looked at Rick, then Daryl and lastly at Claire. She also noticed the blood on Claire's jeans. "Is that blood?" she asked. Claire looked down at her jeans for a while then looked back up at Carol and nodded slightly.

"We found a walker," Rick told Carol. Carol covered her mouth in horror. "There was no sign that he was anywhere near Sophia."

Andrea stepped forward. "How can you be sure?" she asked. Rick looked back at Daryl and Claire.

Daryl was the first to speak up. "We cut the son of a bitch open. Just to make sure."

Carol let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the road barrier. Lori sat down next to her and gently rubbed her back. Then she looked up at Rick. "How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" Rick's face dropped. He crouched down beside her and explained to her why he had to do what he did. "But she's just a child…" Carol sobbed. Rick nodded once and simply walked away. Carol remained sitting there with both Andrea and Lori comforting her.

The next day everyone was ready to continue the search for Sophia, however before they left, Andrea and Dale got into a fight about whether he should hand her gun back to her or not.

"…what do you think is gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the minute you give it to me?" Andrea was saying.

"I know that you're angry at me; that much is clear. But if I hadn't done what I did – you'd be dead."

"Jenner gave us an option – I chose to stay-"

"You chose suicide."

Andrea narrowed her green eyes. "What's that to you, you barely know me!"

"I know that Amy's death devastated you-"

"Keep her out of this," Andrea warned him. Everyone was listening at this point. "This is not about Amy; this is about us. And if I decided I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?!"

"I saved your life," Dale said softly.

Andrea was crying. "No, Dale. _I saved yours._ You forced that on me. I didn't want your blood on my hands and that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What. I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life-affirming catharsis?!" Andre yelled.

Dale gulped. "Maybe just a little gratitude…"

"_Gratitude?" _She repeated and raised her blonde brow. "I wanted to die my way; not torn apart by drooling freaks – that was my choice. You took that away from me, Dale…and you expect _gratitude?" _

Dale was lost for words. Everyone was. "B-but- "he tried to say. Andrea interrupted.

"But you know better? All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless, horrif nightmare we live every day. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my choice away, Dale, and you expect _gratitude?"_ She snapped with a tear rolling down her cheek.

Dale shook his head in confusion. "I-I don't know what to say."

"I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife and I sure as hell am not your problem. _That's all there is to say_," she said and brushed past him. She walked past everyone without saying anything and they all followed her, speechless.

Once they were in the woods, Daryl and Claire took point with Rick directly behind them and Shane at the back. They walked and walked until stumbling across a small abandon campsite that consisted of only one tent. Daryl instructed everyone to fall back while he went inside the tent to investigate. When he didn't come out for quite some time, Carol started calling his name until he emerged, holding a revolver. The group stood there for a few seconds before the sound of church bells ringing. They all looked in different directions as they listened some more. Claire cocked her head in the direction of the bells and everyone ran that way.

"If we hear the bells, maybe Sophia will, too," Carol suggested with hope in her voice.

Glenn nodded. "Maybe someone's ringing it to call others? Or signaling that they found her?"

"She could be ringing them herself," Rick concluded as they continued to run after Claire. They ran and ran in anticipation of finding the young girl. Claire stopped when she got to the end of the woods and spotted a white church in the center of a cemetery.

"Can't be it; there're no bells," Shane denied. Claire ignored him and ran towards the church anyway. Rick, Shane, Claire and Daryl gathered around the entrance and readied their weapons before Claire kicked the door open. The first thing that she saw was a huge sculpture of Christ hanging on the cross, followed by the four walkers that appeared to be casually sitting on the church benches. The church wasn't big; it had about five glass-stained windows down the sides of the white walls.

Claire was the first to act and moved to the closest walker, taking it out with her bow. The others followed and once the church was clear, everyone else came inside.

"SOPHIA!" Rick yelled franticly and hit the walls with his fists. Suddenly, the bells went off once more. Everyone rushed outside and went around the corner, following the ringing sound. To their dismay, it was coming from a small intercom. Glenn managed to switch it off.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit," Carol broke the silence that filled the air. Everyone watched as she went back inside the church to pray. While Carol was inside, Rick and Shane insisted that they carry on and everyone else head back. Carl begged to go with his father and Shane and Lori reluctantly agreed.

"Here, take my gun," Rick said and held out his Python.

Lori shook her head. "I'm not gonna leave you unarmed."

That's when Daryl stepped forward and handed her the revolver he found earlier on, causing Andrea to irritably roll her eyes. As soon as Carol came back out, Daryl, Glenn, Claire, Andrea, Carol and Lori headed back to the highway. Daryl and Claire took point.

"Beautiful day, huh?" Claire tried to talk to Daryl. He didn't look at her or answer. She looked down at her shoes and thought of something else to say. "Still have your Horton Scout HD 125, huh?" she asked, referring to his beloved crossbow.

He looked down at his crossbow, and then smirked. "Yeah... I see you still have your shitty Fox Triple Crown C. Guess you never learn."

Claire raised her black eyebrow and let out a short humorless life. _This was more like it; he was finally talking to her. _"It is not _shitty_. It takes a shit lot of muscle to use this weapon, I'll have you know," she playfully argued, referring to her bow. Daryl looked at her with the slightest smirk on his face.

"So this is it?" Carol suddenly spoke up and sat down on a nearby log, causing everyone else to stop and look at her.

Daryl sighed as he leaned against a tree. "The plan was to travel in smaller groups."

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks," Andrea added and glared at Lori. "I see you have a gun."

Lori sat down beside Carol and held the gun up. "Why? You want it? Here," she said irritably. "I'm sick of the looks you're givin' me." Andrea rolled her eyes and took the gun. Lori retrieved a bottle of water from her backpack and looked at Carol. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're goin' through and I would do anythin' to stop it, but you have got to stop blamin' Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. And when Sophia ran, he didn't hesitate – not for a second," she told Carol, then looked up at everyone. "I don't know if any of us would've gone after her the way he did. Or make the hard decisions he's had to make or that anybody could've done it any differently. Anybody?" she asked. Nobody replied. Lori looked at the water bottle that was in her hands and shook her head. "Ya'll look at him and then you blame him, but he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead; no one is stoppin' you."

There was a moment of silence before Andrea handed the gun back to Lori. "We should keep moving," she said. Lori nodded and the group continued walking.

_BOOM! _

The gunshot pierced their eyes and they all stopped dead in their tracks.

"What was that?" Lori asked.

Daryl stepped forward. "Maybe they took down a walker?" he suggested.

Lori shook her head. "Don't patronize me; you know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down a walker – or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

"She's right," Claire agreed with Lori. "They shove caught up with us by now."

"Well there nothing; we can do 'bout it now. Can't run around the woods chasing echo's," Daryl argued.

Lori sighed. "So what do we do?"

"Same thing we've been doin'; beat the bush for Sophia and work our way back to the highway." Everyone nodded and carried on walking, except for Carol and Andrea.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through," Andrea said to her. "I know how you feel."

"Suppose you do," Carol replied. "Thank you. The thought of her, out here by herself It's the not knowing that's killin' me.I just keep hopin' and prayin' she doesn't wind up like Amy." Andrea's face dropped. Carol realized what she just said and gasped. "Oh God! That's the worst thing I ever said!"

Andrea smiled and shook her head. "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

That's when Daryl stepped forward. "I'll tell you what it's worth; not a damn thing. It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate that little girl. She's gonna be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord!" he complained and continued walking. Lori and Claire exchanged brief smiles before following the redneck back to the highway.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hey guys! So here's chapter 6. I hope you enjoy it. **_

_**Please leave a review and follow?**_

* * *

"AHHHHH!" Andrea's screams pierced their ears.

"Andrea?!" Glenn cried as they pursued the screams. They ran and ran until they heard the sound of a horse galloping towards them. When they got to Andrea, she was lying on the ground with a walker lying next to her. Then they saw the short-haired girl on the horse, clutching a baseball bat.

"L-Lori? Lori Grimes?" she asked Andrea.

Andrea looked confusedly at the girl then at Lori. Lori immediately stepped forward. "I'm Lori Grimes!"

The girl looked at Lori. "Rick sent me. You gotta come now!"

"What?" Lori asked puzzled.

"There's been an accident; Carl's been shot," the woman elucidated. Lori was lost for words. "He's still alive, but you gotta come now. Rick needs you, just come!" she insisted. Without hesitating, Lori threw her backpack down and climbed onto the horse, ignoring Daryl.

"Woah woah woah woah woah! We don't know this girl! You can't get on this horse!" he protested.

The girl looked at him. "Rick said you had others on the highway? Backtrack to Furben road, two miles down is our farm – name's Greene," she directed him. Before anyone could say anything more, she turned around and rode off with Lori.

The walker that the girl had hit sat up and Claire shot it down before they made their way to the highway. When they got there, Dale instantly rushed over to them.

"Carl's been shot," Claire told him.

His face dropped. "What do you mean 'shot'?"

"I dunno, Dale," Claire shrugged, "this chick just came up to us like 'Zorro' on a horse and took Lori."

"And you let her?"

That's when Daryl sighed irritably. "Crawl outta her ass, old man. Rick sent her; she knew Lori's name and Carl's," he snapped and walked over to his motorcycle. Dale looked at Claire and she shrugged. They spent the rest of the afternoon loafing around until Glenn spoke up about going to the farm or not. Carol refused for obvious reasons and Claire agreed with her. Claire suggested that she stay behind with the RV and Daryl volunteered to stay behind with her.

"If the RV is staying, I am, too," Dale said. Carol thanked all of them and decided to stay, too. Andrea and Glenn wanted to stay, too, but Dale quickly intervened, claiming that Andrea and Glenn needed to take T-Dog to the Greene's house to get his arm looked at. That's when Daryl walked over to his motorcycle and took out a packet of medication, also known as 'drugs'. He handed Dale a box of painkillers and Antibiotics.

After Andrea, Glenn and T left, nighttime came quickly. Carol slept on one of the beds in the RV, Daryl took the floor, Dale was on watch and Claire was cleaning the guns.

Claire watched with an amused face as Daryl tossed and turned, trying to block out the sounds of Carol's cries. He looked up at Carol, then at Claire and sighed before standing up.

"Morning," Claire teased. He ignored her and took his crossbow and handgun from the table.

"Imma walk the road; look for the girl," he told Claire.

She nodded and stood up. "I'll come, too," she told him and picked up her machete, bow and handgun. They walked down the highway, then decided to go down into the woods. "You think we're gonna find her?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Ain't the mountains of Tibet; it's Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost – it happens all the time. Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost. Nine days in the woods, eatin' berries and wiping my ass with poison oak. My old man was on some bender with a waitress. Merle was in juvi. They didn't even know I was gone. Made my way back, though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. I was fine, 'cept-" He stopped. Claire intervened.

"Let me guess; your ass was itchy?" she asked. He looked at her. "You've told me this story one too many times. Still, it's the most terrible story ever," she said and laughed a bit. He laughed, too. Every time they used to go out to hunt, he'd tell her that story and she'd laugh every time. "Daryl, I need you to talk to you-"

"What the hell?" Daryl interrupted and looked up at the hanging walker. Claire raised her machete, not sure as to why Daryl was so shocked all of a sudden. He shone his flashlight up at the dangling walker, causing Claire to gag slightly. Daryl walked over to the tree and read the message:

_"…Got bit_

_Fever hit _

_World gone to shit_

_Might as well quit…" _

"Idiot didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head?" Claire asked, a bit disgusted.

Daryl snorted and shrugged. "C'mon. We should head back," he said and turned around. Claire looked at the hanging walker once more before turning around to follow Daryl.

The next day they went to the farm to join the others. They were also told about Otis and how died while going on a run with Shane for some equipment for Carl, who had in fact been shot. They held a short ceremony for Otis and everyone attended to show their respects. When they were done, Hershel showed them where they'd be setting up their 'temporary' camp. It was under a few trees, not so far from the big, white farmhouse that belonged to the old man, his daughters – Maggie and Beth, and Jimmy and Patricia. Rick asked Maggie for a map of the area and she willingly handed him one. They spread it out on across the hood of Carol's Cherokee.

"Shows terrain and elevation," Maggie informed them as she put down rocks on each corner of the map.

Rick nodded. "Fantastic. We can finally get this thing organized."

Rick showed the others where Carl had been shot and Daryl concluded that he needed to head to the creek. Hershel also forbid Rick and Shane to go due to Shane's injury that he had received while going on the run with Otis, and because Rick had given Carl three units of blood already.

"Guess it's just me and Daryl," Claire said. "We'll head back down to the creek and make our up from there." Rick nodded. Shane brought up the gun situation and Hershel shot him down, claiming that he didn't like the idea of them carrying guns. Shane argued, but Rick quickly intervened and managed to convince Hershel to allow them to carry guns. The group broke and Daryl and Claire went to the stables to get a horse. "You know how to ride one?" she asked him, folding her arms.

He nodded. "Hell yeah. Ain't rocket science. You?" She shook her head. Daryl climbed onto the brown animal and held out his hand. "Ain't got all day. You wanna ride?"

"Sure, hillbilly," she said and took his hand. He helped her up and she held onto his waist. "Nice shirt. Brings out your eyes," she teased.

He snorted. "Shut up," he joked. She laughed a bit before the horse took off, causing her to hold him tighter. "You hold me any tighter, girl, you'll be squeezin' my damn eyeballs out." She loosened her grip once they got into the woods and the horse slowed down. The rest of the ride was silent, besides the sound of the trees brushing against each other.

Claire was looking around when she spotted the familiar doll that belonged to Sophia. "Whoa whoa whoa, stop!" she demanded. Daryl stopped the horse and Claire hopped off. "Look down there. That's hers," she pointed to the doll that was lying in the river. Daryl hopped of the horse, too and they made their way down to retrieve the doll. Claire picked it up and inspected it.

"SOPHIA!" Daryl shouted, causing Claire to jump a bit. "Damn it! Where the hell is she?" he asked himself. Claire pocketed the doll and made her way back up to the horse with Daryl right behind her. They got on again and continued riding. They rode for about five more minutes before the horsr suddenly reared up and threw both of them off.

"SHIT!" Claire yelled as they both rolled down the high slope and finally landed in the stream while the horse ran away.

Daryl cussed to himself and tried to sit up. He hissed in pain when he realized that he had an arrow stuck in his side. "C-Claire?" he said while clasping his teeth.

_No reply. _

He slowly sat up and looked at Claire, who was lying next to him. "Hey! Get up!" he told her and lightly nudged her.

_Still no reply. She was out. _

"Oh shit," Daryl said to himself and slowly got up and swung his crossbow over his shoulder. He clutched his side with one hand and dragged Claire to shore with the other. Once she was out of the water, he fell down next to her and passed out, too.

…

"Why don't you pull that arrow out, dummy?"

Daryl opened his eyes and instantly saw his brother, Merle, in front of him. He felt his lips curl into a small smile. "Merle?"

"Hmm. What's goin' on here with you and the biker chick?" Merle teased his younger brother.

Daryl shook his head. "Shitty day, bro."

"Want me to getcha a pillow? Maybe even rub ya feet?" Trust Merle to patronize you to the max. He never considered Daryl to be a man; always just his 'baby brother'.

"Screw you," Daryl spat, sick and tired of his brother's bullshit.

Merle snorted. "You're the screwed one. All them years I spent tryna make a man outta you, this is what I get. Can't even protect the biker. You're gonna die out here, little brother. And for what?"

"A girl," Daryl gulped. "They lost a little girl. Me and Claire went out lookin' for 'er"

"You Claire's bitch now?" Merle asked.

Daryl shook his head swiftly. "Ain't nobody's 'bitch'." He told Merle firmly.

"You're nothin' but a freak to her; redneck trash. She laughs at you behind your back, little bro," Merle told him. Daryl started drifting off and  
Merle shook him awake. "Hey. They ain't your kin. Ain't never gonna be. Now come on; get up or imma have to kick your teeth in," Merle teased some more and started kicking Daryl's foot. That's when Daryl shot up and looked at his feet; there was a walker trying to eat him. He quickly kicked the walker repeatedly until he got the full upper hand. He grabbed a stick that was lying nearby and hit the walker over and over until it was on the ground. Then he stabbed its head with the stick and noticed the second walker that was coming towards him. He couldn't think of anything else to do, so he ripped the arrow out of his side and reloaded his crossbow. Before he was able to shoot, however, the walker dropped dead with an arrow to the head. Daryl spun around and saw Claire holding her bow. She dropped it and clutched her stomach and screamed in pain. She fell down again and took short, quick breaths.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked as he bandaged his wound.

She nodded and slowly stood up again. "Let's get back," she gasped. He nodded and picked up the stick that he used to kill the walker. Claire started climbing back up the slope they fell down with Daryl right behind her. Every once in a while she'd turn and around and try to help him up, but he always refused. She got to the top first and watched Daryl try his hardest to get up, too. When he was a couple of feet away, she held out her hand and insisted that he take it. He reluctantly accepted and once he was up, he sat and rested for a few seconds before getting up again. Claire walked a few feet ahead of him due to the fact that she wasn't as injured, or so she thought. Daryl left the stick behind and walked by himself, still holding his side and panting in pain. Claire on the other hand held her stomach as she walked.

When Claire got to the farm, she was way ahead of Daryl, who was still limping a few feet behind her. She continued walking towards the camp Rick, Shane and Glenn made their way to her. Daryl soon came after her and at first; Shane, Rick and Glenn mistook him for a walker and Rick pointed his gun at him.

"You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl growled. Apparently, Andrea also mistook him for a walker and that's when the gunshot went off, sending Daryl flying.

"NO!" Claire screamed and ran back to Daryl immediately. Shane, Glenn and Rick followed and found Daryl lying on the ground, holding his head.

"I was kiddin'!" Daryl managed to say before passing out once again. Trust Daryl to crack a joke right after he's been shot, Claire thought to herself. Rick and Shane picked the redneck up and took him into the house with Glenn and Claire following. Hershel sat Claire down on the guest bed and instructed Rick and Shane to put Daryl down beside her. After he checked her wounds, Daryl woke up and explained to them what happened while Hershel stitched him up.

"Could've told you she'd throw you if you bothered to ask-" Hershel was saying to them, referring to the horse they took without his permission. Claire got up and ran to the bathroom, gripping her belly and ready to throw up. When she was done, she walked back into the room and everyone was looking at her. "May I have a word with you, miss?" Hershel asked her. She looked at Shane, Daryl and Rick, then back at Hershel and nodded slowly. Hershel and Claire left the room and went outside to talk. "You must be Miss Claire. Rick told me 'bout you; you left a few months ago to find your sister," he said. "I assume you never found her."

Claire licked her lips. "I did…she just didn't make it."

"I see. I'm sorry," he apologized. Claire nodded and smiled slightly. Then Hershel stopped walking, causing her to stop, too. "How long have you known?"

Claire's face dropped. _He knew. _She gulped and looked down at the floor. "Three months," she said, then looked up at him and frowned. "I've been pregnant for about three months now."

Hershel nodded and took a deep breath. "Who's the father? Is he still alive?"

Claire nodded. "The father of my child is…" she sighed. "…Daryl. Daryl Dixon."


	7. Chapter 7

Hershel gave Claire more pillows to sleep on and she gladly accepted. He also insisted that she tell Daryl and the rest of the group, but she didn't know how and when to tell them. Of course she was going to, though. How could she keep that sort of secret from them? A crying baby could mean someone's life. Claire knew that. That's one of the main reasons she dreaded the day that they'd all find out.

She had just woken up. She lay in her tent, thinking about what Hershel said to her and took it into consideration. But then she thought about the whole Sophia situation and how her pregnancy would just cause more stress. She rolled onto her side. Maybe she should hold onto her little secret for a bit more, she thought.

Sure, she already had all the vitamins she needed; she made sure to get them before she came back. Hershel even offered to do a check-up some time. She got up and got dressed before heading outside to join everybody for breakfast. She noticed that Daryl had moved from Hershel's house back to his tent. Carol handed Claire a plate of scrambled eggs and sat down next to her.

Suddenly Glenn stood up and started pacing. When he stopped, he looked at the group. "Guys…" he said. Nobody was really paying attention. "So…" he went on, still not grabbing everyone's full attention. "So the barn's full of walkers," he muttered. Everyone suddenly looked up at him. After a moment of silence, Rick and Shane put there bowls of food down and got up with the rest shortly following. 

Shane went right up to the barn and peeked through a creek. Once he saw what he needed to, he turned around and got into an argument with Rick about killing the geeks.

"…C'mon; we've been talkin' 'bout Fort Benning-" Shane was saying.

Rick quickly cut him off. "We can't leave."

"Why not?" Shane asked him.

Carol stepped forward. "Because my daughter's still out there," she told him.

Shane let out a humorless laugh and rolled his eyes. "Carol, I think it's time we all consider the other possibilities-" he said, causing a big uproar.

Daryl walked forward and glowered at Shane. "We're close to findin' this li'l gilr; I jus' found her damn doll!" he argued.

Shane laughed again. "You found her doll, Daryl." The tone in his voice suggested that he was trying to belittle Daryl, which never ends well.

"You don' know what the hell you're talkin' 'bout!" Daryl barked. Claire and Rick tried to break the fight up, but failed.

"Hey look. I'm just sayin' what needs to be said. And lemme tell you something else; if she saw you comin' in the woods with your geek ears and your buck knife, she would run in the other direction, man!" Shane insulted Daryl.

Daryl decided that he'd heard enough and tried to attack him. Claire stepped in front of Daryl while Lori stepped in front of Shane. Daryl stepped back and looked at Claire while Rick and Shane had another argument.

"You cool?" Claire asked him with a raised brow. He sighed, but nodded. Claire nodded, too and the two turned around to see what Rick and Shane were talking about. Eventually, Shane stormed off and everybody went back to their business. On her way to her tent, she stumbled across Hershel, who looked like he needed to talk. He called her aside and advised her not to go out looking for Sophia again because of the baby. She thought about it, but refused. How could she just do nothing while a little girl was out lost? She promised him that she'd be careful and walked away with that being said.

As she walked, she reconsidered her decision. After all, Hershel was a doctor and he knew what he was talking about. But then she thought about Sophia; how could she just leave the child all alone in the woods? Moreover, Daryl was badly injured and probably wasn't planning on going out. She grabbed her backpack and bow before heading out to the stables. When she arrived, she was surprised to see Daryl and Carol inside, talking. She didn't get involved, and instead, just got herself a horse.

She knew more or less how to ride them thanks to Daryl and Maggie had showed her a few tricks. She ignored Daryl and Carol and got lost in her own thoughts about when she was going to tell everybody about the baby. She climbed onto the horse and looked at Daryl. He caught her gaze and held onto it. A small smile played on her lips before she took off. Daryl ignored everything Carol was saying and watched Claire go.

He could believe that once upon a time, Claire Valentine was the girl who fucked him in the forest multiple times. He was willing to bet money that if he hadn't been such an asshole when she returned, that she'd still be doing it to him. It wasn't that they felt anything for one another; he hadn't been laid in weeks and once she took off her shirt, he wasn't about to argue. They hadn't told anybody, though. There wasn't any reason for anyone to know anyway. Like Claire always told him when they were done:

What happens in the forest stays in the forest.

Claire on the other hand, made her way back into the woods. She followed it, just like her and Daryl did before. Still, she couldn't find anything. As she was riding, pain shot through her stomach and she instantly got off the horse. She bent over, clutching her stomach with her hands and panting.

There was absolutely no way she could be giving birth. _She was only three months. _

She was on the floor now, hands griping the grass and teeth clenched. She was still panting and now, sweating. She was even crying. Claire couldn't take it anymore and finally collapsed, although she was still barely conscious. She felt light headed and soon, her hands let go of the grass.

The last thing she remembered was seeing two figures coming directly at her.


End file.
